Max Verstappen has already had the opportunity to hear the sound of Red Bull Racing’s new engine for the 2026 Formula 1 season, and so far, he is satisfied with what he has heard. The Milton Keynes-based team will embark on a new era by producing its own power unit, through Red Bull Powertrains-Ford, in partnership with the American manufacturer, for the major change in the category’s regulations for 2026.
The new F1 engines will be evenly split between electric systems and internal combustion engines, which will run on fully sustainable biofuels. However, the biggest challenge for Red Bull is that the team has never had its own engine before, and now it relies on the partnership with Ford for this undertaking.
While Mercedes and Honda have already released audio of their engines for 2026, Red Bull has chosen to keep the sound of its engine under wraps for now. However, Verstappen shared his first impression, revealing that he heard the Red Bull-Ford engine on the test bench.
In an interview with the Talking Bull podcast, Verstappen commented, in a relaxed tone, that the sound of the engine was positive: “It makes noise!”, the driver joked. “It sounded good. Of course, you hear it on the dyno, but it seemed, like, crisp”, he said.
Verstappen also mentioned that, although the sound was pleasant, the engine’s performance is still the main issue: “It made a good noise. It’s not a V10”, Verstappen said, referring to the characteristic sound of the older Formula 1 engines.
Although the sound was a good initial sign, Verstappen and his team prefer to keep expectations moderate regarding the engine’s performance. Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, emphasized the need for caution: “What’s the reference for next year? Nobody knows. It will be very clear in the first races how things will unfold. So we start with a completely new approach”, he added.
